Did you know that on almost every day of the year, at least one member of the New York Yankee's all-time roster celebrates a birthday? The posts of the Pinstripe Birthday Blog celebrate those birthdays and offer personal recollections, career highlights, and trivia questions that will bring back memories and test your knowledge of the storied history of the Bronx Bombers.

Results tagged ‘ december 26 ’

While the Yankees had a marvelous season in 2009, winning their 27th World Championship, it was a lost year for Dustin Moseley. The right-handed pitcher from Texarkana, Texas strained his right forearm at the beginning of that year and just as he recovered from that injury he found out he needed surgery on his hip, which ended his season. His contract with the Angels was up that same season, so you know he had to be thrilled when the Yankees offered him a contract that winter.

Moseley had his agent include a clause that made him a free agent again if he wasn’t on New York’s 25-man roster by July 1. Getting him there by that date proved to be an easy decision because the defending champions’ bullpen was a complete mess that season. Both Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson were pitching poorly, Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin were worse and Alfredo Aceves was on the DL.

So when Moseley made his pinstriped debut as a reliever against Toronto on July 3rd of that season and held the Jays hitless in his two-inning stint, Joe Girardi, Brian Cashman, his Yankee teammates and plenty of Yankee fans were all simultaneously hoping it was a sign of good things to come. It actually wasn’t. After three more relief stints his ERA was over four. By then however, the Yankee starting pitching situation had fallen upon rough times and Girardi actually inserted Moseley into the rotation.

The 29-year-old stepped up, winning four of his first six decisions as a starter. Even though he lost his last two starts that year, his strong two inning relief stint in Game 1 of the 2010 ALCS against Texas earned him the win and probably was the reason the Yanks tried to re-sign him again following that postseason.Moseley instead decided to take his game to San Diego’s more pitcher-friendly Petco Park.

He pitched well for the Padres in 2011.posting a 3.30 ERA, but poor run support saddled him with a 3-10 record. He also injured his non-throwing shoulder and when he failed to get off to a good start the following year, he was put on waivers.He hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since.

Jay Tessmer was a tall, Pennsylvania-born, 19th-round Yankee draft-choice in 1995, who had the misfortune of being one of the organization’s top bullpen prospects during an era when New York’s bullpen featured Mo Rivera, Mike Stanton, Jeff Nelson and Ramiro Mendoza. So even though the side-arming former University of Miami reliever saved 176 games in the minors, he couldn’t pitch well enough to become a permanent part of the parent club’s bullpen during the prime years of his career.

He got his first call-up to the Bronx in August of the 1998 season, when both Stanton and Mendoza were hurting and he enjoyed immediate success. Joe Torre had used all of his available stalwart relievers in a Thursday night game against the Angels and the score was tied 5-5 going into the top of the eleventh inning. He called on Tessmer, who had just arrived from Columbus that same day to take the mound. The 26-year-old retired the three hitters he faced, striking out both Phil Nevin and Darin Erstad in the process. In the bottom of the inning, Bernie Williams hit a walk-off double, driving in Derek Jeter and Tessmer had a win in his big league and Yankee debut. That would be his first and last big league victory and his only career decision. He would get three more shots during the 1999, 2000 and ’02 seasons but fail to stick more than seven games in any of them.

Tessmer shares his day-after-Christmas birthday with this former first baseman who hit one of the most dramatic home runs in Yankee franchise history.

All rights reserved. No post or part of a post in this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo copy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.